Lost mayor’s support, says Fairmont developer Chiodo

With the proposed $300 million Accor Fairmont Port Douglas resort project hanging by a thread, developer Paul Chiodo says in a far-reaching Question and Answer interview with Newsport that he has lost the support of Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr and Councillors will be advised (by the town planners) to reject this development which is expected to be an agenda item at the next Open session on September 28.

Newsport: In light of the recent publicity, have you had any feedback from Council?

Chiodo: We have had zero feedback from council so far. We have written a letter to the council planners outlining our efforts to try and work with the planner and receiving little to no useful responses from the Planner. Please Note: The planner continually mentioned that they are not going to provide advice to us on what they believe will be suitable as it's NOT their job to provide us any advice but only to assess what has been submitted. We protested this stance by the Council planners as Mayor Michael Kerr continually states for me to work with the council planners, but the council planners do not believe it's their job to work with us. This doesn't go with the spirit of the 45-day mediation process that we pushed for with the council.

Newsport: Are you surprised with the mayor's stance

Chiodo: Absolutely. We are surprised as Michael Kerr has always in the past been a supporter of our intent and what we are trying to do for the community. Michael Kerr made statements on his FNQ ABC radio interview that took us by surprise. Michael Kerr stated that our scheme was above the Planning Scheme. We say it is impossible to make these comments as the Council Planner (Daniel Lamond) communicated with us and stated that his planning report is not complete and it hasn’t gone to his manager or anyone else at this stage. Michael is again prejudging our application without the full content of the report and I hope he has been given our responses to the council planners from the 45-day period.

The second surprise from this interview, Michael Kerr stated that the council planners had an expert opinion and this opinion is consistent with their views. We say this is inconsistent with what was stated by the council planners as we asked them on multiple occasions if they plan to get expert opinions to assess our application and they said no as they don't have this budget to get experts in. I have on numerous occasions pleaded with the council planners to get expert opinion into this process to help them in the key areas of concerns and who will have the ability to communicate with our expert consultant team. If an expert exists or was engaged, then we have not been told by the council planners this entire time and we would like to see their report. We shared our legal expert report to council in a matter of transparency of the process as we will be extremely disappointed should a report exist by an expert commissioned by council.

Newsport: Are you likely to pull the plug, is taking Council to court still an option?

Chiodo: Should this continue with council planners not providing real feedback or wanting to work with us and should the Councillors remain silent on this, they lead us no choice but to lodge an application to the court for this application to be heard properly. The continued prejudging of our application without the full facts and not reading our responses issued back to council and not even having a chance to take a look at the real montages confirming that our building will not really be seen from the road as it will blend into the nature and landscaping of the surroundings.

Newsport: What's been the reaction from Fairmont and Accor?

Chiodo: Accor is a main employer in Port Douglas and they chose Port Douglas to launch the Fairmont brand as they believed, based on their knowledge and experience of the area, that it would be a success for the community, as it would provide the community with significant job opportunities, while providing opportunities for a range of other community tourist businesses. They, like us, have been taken by surprise by the council's response to date.

Newsport: Is a revised DA being prepared, and are you putting a time limit on when you make a decision whether to proceed, or not?

Chiodo: No. Changes are being made to our application as it is in line with the Planning Scheme, The council planners have misinterpreted the planning scheme. We will wait until the council meeting on September 28 2021.

We have issued a letter to council planners last week (see pdf) as a call for action to the Councillors to meet with us in a discussion to ensure that we can have a positive outcome for all. We are still waiting on a response from the Council.

DOWNLOAD PDF: CHIODO LETTER TO COUNCIL 16/09/2021